The year that was!
It was a fairly great year for Namibian sports.
In November, Namibia made history when its junior women's team won gold medal at the World Inline Hockey Championships in Buenos Aires. It was the first time that an African country had won a medal at the championships, and their dominance was something to behold as they won all their matches in record fashion.
In November, at the Cricket World Cup, the Namibian Eagles beat the United Arab Emirates by seven runs to win their first-ever match at a T20 World Cup. The Namibians were eventually eliminated from the tournament; however, beating cricket giants just goes to show that anything is possible for Namibia in cricket circles.
Namibia qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a 36-0 win over Kenya in the Rugby Africa Cup final. They will join hosts France, New Zealand, Italy and Uruguay in Pool A of the tournament, which will take place next year.
Next year’s World Cup will be Namibia's seventh successive appearance in the finals, having competed at every World Cup since 1999. However, they have lost all 22 matches played in the tournament since then. Although placed in a very tough pool – the Namibians are not to be written off.
There were so many other feats, and I think next year will be much better in terms of preparations and accolades for Namibia. My hope is that the likes of Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi return to the track and give Namibians more victories.
On another note: the FIFA World Cup is nearing its end. The semi-finals start on Tuesday, with Morocco being the first African nation to reach the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Portugal on Saturday evening. This means that if they win their match against defending champions France on Wednesday, they might stand a chance of playing against Croatia or Argentina in the final. Morocco really has so much to play for. This could be the first World Cup title for an African side. History might be rewritten, and rightfully so.
This is the last Sport Wrap column for the year. With that, I end the year by saying that we should all strive to be better in our pursuits and that sports journalists can write victorious headlines.
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In November, Namibia made history when its junior women's team won gold medal at the World Inline Hockey Championships in Buenos Aires. It was the first time that an African country had won a medal at the championships, and their dominance was something to behold as they won all their matches in record fashion.
In November, at the Cricket World Cup, the Namibian Eagles beat the United Arab Emirates by seven runs to win their first-ever match at a T20 World Cup. The Namibians were eventually eliminated from the tournament; however, beating cricket giants just goes to show that anything is possible for Namibia in cricket circles.
Namibia qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a 36-0 win over Kenya in the Rugby Africa Cup final. They will join hosts France, New Zealand, Italy and Uruguay in Pool A of the tournament, which will take place next year.
Next year’s World Cup will be Namibia's seventh successive appearance in the finals, having competed at every World Cup since 1999. However, they have lost all 22 matches played in the tournament since then. Although placed in a very tough pool – the Namibians are not to be written off.
There were so many other feats, and I think next year will be much better in terms of preparations and accolades for Namibia. My hope is that the likes of Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi return to the track and give Namibians more victories.
On another note: the FIFA World Cup is nearing its end. The semi-finals start on Tuesday, with Morocco being the first African nation to reach the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over Portugal on Saturday evening. This means that if they win their match against defending champions France on Wednesday, they might stand a chance of playing against Croatia or Argentina in the final. Morocco really has so much to play for. This could be the first World Cup title for an African side. History might be rewritten, and rightfully so.
This is the last Sport Wrap column for the year. With that, I end the year by saying that we should all strive to be better in our pursuits and that sports journalists can write victorious headlines.
[email protected]
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